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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29829966">Number Brain</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/writteninink/pseuds/writteninink'>writteninink</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV), A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, esmé needs a hug, i made a bad maths joke try finding it, implied eslaf, olaf is blonde, young esmé and olaf</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:59:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,057</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29829966</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/writteninink/pseuds/writteninink</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Esmé searchs for validation, while Olaf searchs for a way to tease her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Count Olaf/Esmé Squalor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Number Brain</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/unfortunatesqualor/gifts">unfortunatesqualor</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Esmé had never thought she would find herself in a library.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She had always despised reading, declared it as useless, and made fun of the people who valued books over everything – which included most of her friends and associates.</p>
<p>Deep down, she knew it was probably because her talents laid elsewhere; she didn’t know how to work with letters, whenever she looked at them, they started dancing over the pages and put her teeth on edge.</p>
<p>She had tried to hide it numerous times, but after a while, even the last volunteer had found out.</p>
<p>The only reason they were keeping her was because of her acting skills and wealthy parents.</p>
<p>No, she had a number brain – it solved every equation it spotted, every question that involved logic in any way, played with the numbers she saw and put them in order, every single one on its right place.</p>
<p>Maths made her happy, but she knew V.F.D. had no use for that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As mentioned before, Esmé had never thought she would end up in a library, and even less than that visiting one to check out a book – if she would finally find the one she was searching for, obviously, thank you very much.</p>
<p>Her long and manicured fingernails were skimming over the spines of some very old and dusty books, searching for a specific one she didn’t even want to read, if it hadn’t been for the secret organisation she was part of.</p>
<p>There were few books she could actually see herself reading, and this wasn’t one of them; but she had her reasons.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When Esmé had entered the library, she had looked around to see if there was anyone she knew, anyone who would make fun of her for checking out that particular book, but she hadn’t spotted anyone.</p>
<p>Finally, after she had searched for what had felt like an eternity, she found the huge piece of work in one of the upper shelves, pulling it out with slight struggles she tried to hide.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Esmé looked around to find the place where she could check out the enormous book she was holding in her long fingers, but just in that moment, someone tapped on her shoulder.</p>
<p>Before she could even see who it was, she heard his disgusting laugh.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Why here? Why <em>now</em><span>?</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Didn’t know you could read, Squalor.”, grinned the tall young man with honey blonde hair, after she had winced and then finally turned around to him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Esmé had to hold back a groan.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“I didn’t know you could either, Olaf. The only reason I would have expected finding you in a library for is making out with your lovely girlfriend.” She hissed, gritting her teeth.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Is she hiding behind behind those shelves? Or did she run away from you? I wouldn’t blame her. If I had to date you- hey!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Olaf had raised his eyebrows at Esmé’s sarcastic words; he didn’t seem hurt or offended like she had wanted to, he was rather … amused. But while she had been talking, he had grabbed the book she was holding in her hands to look at its cover.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Hum, what does Miss Squalor want to read, hum? Oh … <em>Anna Karenina.</em><span> Don’t you think that’s a bit too hard for you?” He </span><span>whispered</span><span> teasingly, and Esmé’s face turned red; half in embarrassment, half in anger.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Of course it was too hard for her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Esmé didn’t remember the last time she had finished a book, she didn’t even know if she had ever attempted finishing one. And classic Russian literature was probably not the best thing to start with, but a stupid little voice in her head had assured her she would finally find a bit of acceptance along her comrades if she read it – because even though she would have never admitted it, it hurt her when the others talked shit behind her back, talked about how she wasn’t even able to read the easiest of books, made fun of her for being stupid … and now, she had decided to prove all of them wrong.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>To prove they weren’t better than her, to prove she could do the same as them if she just tried.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And she wouldn’t let a jerk like Olaf keep her away from that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Fuck you.”</p>
<p>She hissed, and before he could let out yet another mocking chuckle, she had pushed him against a shelf filled with books full of poetry.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For a moment, Olaf’s eyes widened, he couldn’t keep up with acting as if he didn’t care; because he had certainly not expected for her to treat him like that – it wasn’t very ladylike to push someone against shelves in a library, and that seemed to be a thing she always took care of.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Dozens of books fell out and landed on the floor, and of course it didn’t take the librarian more than a few seconds to notice. Her mouth was widely opened, her bushy eyebrows raised in anger and disappointment, but before she could start yelling at them, Esmé felt a hand grabbing her wrist.</p>
<p>She gasped, but Olaf was pulling her out of the library already, not even caring he was stepping over tons of books.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Without saying a single word, he started running, and Esmé didn’t have much of a choice but to follow him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After what had felt like an eternity and just a few seconds at the same time, he stopped in a dark alleyway and looked down at her, still holding the book in his hands. He was panting, and so was Esmé, but she tried to hold back her heavy breathing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“That- was- an adventure-”, Olaf gasped, brushing over his red cheeks, but Esmé just let out a scoff.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He was a ridiculous little bastard, and it bothered her that he was talking like that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Anyway … you still wanna have the book?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Esmé’s eyebrows twitched in anger, but she didn’t say anything. Because she wasn’t even sure anymore if she wanted the book. Maybe it had been because of mocking Olaf’s words, but she had realised that even if she tried, she wouldn’t be able to finish it.</p>
<p>Her brain could only process numbers, not letters.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Olaf smirked and brushed through his sweaty hair, suddenly pulling out a box of matches.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“To be fair, this book sucks … wanna burn it?”</p>
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